[M-E11] A free surprise in every packet

[woofmcmoose]

Location: ‘Crab’ Class Scout Vessel 01, The Fascini Cluster

Tags: Building (Spaceship Interior), Civil, Spaceship

27 Septembrinali 3815

Alvin: “I’m bored…”

Moose: "We’ve only been out for 20 minutes!"

Alvin: “Yeah but my Minifigs’ guide to the Galaxy describes the Fascini Cluster as ‘A tight swirling cluster of Awesomnium rich asteroids’ and I’ve seen nothing yet.”

Moose: "Look, the real world isn’t like sci-fi TV shows, even dense asteroid fields are pretty sparse, it’s not all fancy flying and hiding in caves that turn out to be giant space-worms."

Alvin: “Well it should be!”

Moose: "Anyway, why are you the bored one? You’re flying this thing; I’m the one waiting for a target to put these arms to work!"

Alvin: “Hmm…well since you have nothing to do, maybe you want to tell me what’s going on between you and Chief Tech Thorne?”

Moose: "There’s nothing to tell, me and Katya are just friends."

Alvin: “You and Katya….?”

Moose: "Fine! You know how I was planning to ask her on a date when we got to Marden? Well I went to see her in the drone maintenance bays to ask, but my attempt was rudely interrupted by the Code Alpha Scramble."

Alvin: “And what a fine wild goose chase that was! Continue…”

Moose: "Well I kinda asked her to wait for me at breakfast and she did….."

Flashback to 11 Septembrinali 3815, MSS Titan, Mess Deck 2

Moose: "Hey chef, what’s on the menu today?"

Chefdroid: "Breakfast is beans, larvae protein tube suprise and mystery pie."

Moose: "Mystery pie? What’s in it?”

Chefdroid: "That information is classified. However, Big Sal has programmed me to assure you that it is delicious, definitely does not contain awesomnium serum enhanced amphibians and certainly won’t have hideous side effects."

Moose: "Delicious you say! Ok, count me in for one of everything!”

Chefdroid: "Coming up, and which colour beverage do you require?"

Moose: "I’ll take neon orange please.”

Alvin: “Moose, I’m not interested in what you had to eat, what happened with you and Thorne?”

Moose: "Ok, Ok, I’m just getting to that part."

Flashback continues

Moose: "Hey Katya, thanks for waiting up for me."

Thorne: "Hey Moose, find anything out there? Erm, and I’ve not been waiting up just for you."

Moose: "Nope the alert was a bust, nothing out there at all. And what do you mean? I thought…"

Thorne: "I’ve been working all night too, conducting a complete recalibration of the primary sensor array trying to find what spooked us, but nothing’s wrong with it."

Ensign Stevens Internal Monologue: "...Oh dear…”

Flashback to 10 Septembrinali 3815, MSS Titan, Combat Information Centre

Captain Keynes: “Status report!”

Ensign Stevens: “Scope is clear sir, been quiet…sniff… since we got here."

Ensign Stevens: “…achooo….Wait! Multiple contacts! They’re everywhere!”

Moose: "Phew, I thought for a minute you were suggesting you didn’t want to eat with me."

Thorne: "Moose, I’ll just make this clear now, I consider you a friend, despite you being a vacuum headed pilot, but please don’t get the wrong idea…"

Moose: "Wrong idea? Hah, of course not! You think I’m hitting on you…hah. I mean not that you’re not attractive or that I wouldn’t…”

Thorne: "Moose, just shut up and eat your breakfast like a normal person."

Moose: "Sorry…”

Alvin: “What, that’s it?”

Moose: "More or less, we’ve bumped into each other a few times since and she actually invited me down to the workshops last week to show me some stuff she’s making.”

Alvin: “To show you some stuff eh…?”

Moose: “It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to see, but I still think there may be some hope."

Alvin: “Sure there is buddy….”

Alvin: “Hey at last, an asteroid!”

Moose: “Nothing interesting showing on the spectrometer at this range, it looks like it’s just rock. Bring us in for a closer look.”

Alvin: “Moose, pay attention. This is a closer look; that thing is just really small.”

Moose: “Oh!”

Alvin: “I have another on scope, fairly close by, looks a little larger but still small.”

Moose: “Let’s take a look”

Moose: “Wow, the spectrometer is detecting awsomnium, quartz and some form of biomass I don’t recognise.”

Alvin: “Biomass? In something that size, in the vacuum of space?”

Moose: “That’s what the sensors say. I’m going to vaporise a segment for more detailed elemental analysis, standby.”

…silent space explosion….

Moose: “Ahh, what is that!”

…sounds of scratching; like cutting diamonds on a pane of ultraglass separating vaccum and atmosphere….

Alvin: “Get it off, get it off!”

Moose: “Gotcha! What is this thing? Sensors are still showing high awsomnium levels, but it’s an isotope we’ve ever seen before. This critter must be full of the stuff! We better get this to the science guys.”

Alvin: “Agreed. There’s a Sal class science vessel in system. Setting course.”

Quite a long post this week, trying to tie up my stories a bit more, perhaps went a bit overboard with the flashback within a flashback. Hopefully the quote tags made it clear what was going on. With the mess deck scen I was also trying to add a bit more background movement and interest than my previous builds.

Some more pics for you:

A shot of the right hand side of the scout ship:

The rear also has an opening boarding ramp:

A view in the cockpit:

Overall shot of the mess deck:

The kitchen; chefdroid is preparing mystery pie, and definitely not including enhanced frogs. His assistant is stirring a pot of beans (hopefully Big Sal doesn't find out he's cooking the purple ones!:

Another shot with the "sneeze guard" removed for improved visibility, here you can see the 'protein tube suprise' machine and drinks dispenser:

[Lady K]

Yum, Mystery Pie........ I bet it was tasty. Great build on the cafeteria and the ship. I love all the detail you put in the cafeteria. I really like the food service counter, the trans blue windows work well to show the wide variety of healthful foods we at M.A.N.T.I.S. eat. The compact efficient design of the ship reminds me of the study little mining ships from KnowWhere in Guardians of the Galaxy.

[LittleJohn]

Fantastic work here! The mess deck is awesome, the trans blue looks great and I love all the different machines

[SpacerSteve]

Your build is great all around. Great story. Great ship. Great interior scene. The krang was funny. Your ship reminds me a bit of master datas striker from early on. Yours is a bit larger though.

[pombe]

AWESOME!!!

That scout ship is incredible! I especially love the shoulders and how you attached the radar dish!

And that kitchen! There are so many awesome little details tucked away in there!

And of course, the awesome story! Poor Moose...if Katya doesn't see how awesome he is, that just means another girl will be the lucky one!

[Andromedas Gates]

The judges awarded you 5 points.

[David FNJ]

That scout ship is awesome! Great shaping, and I like how you included the functional boarding ramp! The kitchen too is very well done and has a nice futuristic vibe to it.

[Umbra-Manis]

Cool build and story!